Third Weekly Report from ARSV Laurence M. Gould
8-17 December 1998

This report covers more than one week because I went ashore at Elephant Island on 14 December and remained longer than planned. At about 1500 hours on 17 December, the seismology and GPS equipment was back aboard the vessel with our missions ashore accomplished and we have departed Elephant Island.

During the third week of this cruise we accomplished a great deal by completing GPS and seismological work at Spring Point, retrieving the Smith Island GPS, dropping all OBS's scheduled for the Bransfield Strait, recovering and re-deploying two OBS's in the Drake Passage and completing GPS and seismology work on Elephant Island. Tight pack ice prevented the first planned visit to Palmer and cost us a little time, but we have altered our schedule to compensate. The only disappointment is that a pressure gauge located north of Elephant Island failed to surface in response to attempts to trigger its acoustic release. The weather is reasonably good and we are presently on our way to Chilean Base O'Higgins on the Antarctic Peninsula.

This week began with the ARSV L. M. Gould surrounded by tight pack ice as far as the eye can see and unable to proceed the last 10 km to Palmer Station. John Evans stayed with the Seismology Team and David Phillips (GPS) at the refuge huts at Spring Point. The ship waited during the night of 7 December in hopes of loosening of pack ice that would have allowed access to Palmer Station. On the morning of 8 December, the ship again attempted to move toward Palmer Station, but after more than one hour it had progressed only about 100 m. Given the weather data available, it appeared an unwise use of time to persist in attempting Palmer Station while time slipped away and six people awaited our return to Spring Point. We elected to return to Spring Point via the Neumayer Channel and then on to Smith Island for another attempt at recovering the GPS system left there on 30 November.

At 2300 hrs, 8 December we arrived at Spring Point, brought all people and equipment aboard through light brash ice and small ice bergs in two Zodiac runs. At 0130 hours, 9 December, we departed for Smith Island under light SE or SSE winds. We made a quick trip to Smith Island at 1030 hours and retrieved the GPS which had logged more than 10 days of data.

From Smith Island, we set a course for GPS site JUAN on Livingston Island, arriving at 2000 hours the same day. By 2110 hours the GPS was running and by 2200 hrs the Gould departed for Frei Base, King George Island, arriving there about 0700 hrs, on 10 December. The seismology team and a GPS person went ashore to service equipment and re-train operators of the seismograph and continuous GPS at the base.

Upon the departure from Livingston Island, Dr. LeRoy Dorman learned from his software supplier that some of the OBS's deployed in Drake Passage would not perform properly because of the power supplies he uses and that several OBS's would require recovery and re-deployment. This imposed serious unplanned demands on our schedule. From Frei Base the ship quickly left to deploy OBS's in Bransfield Strait and returned to pick up David Phillips (GPS) at Frei Base by about 1700 hours. The ship proceeded to Chilean Base Prat on Greenwich Island where Phillips set a second GPS station at about 2200 hrs. From Prat, the Gould dropped six Bransfield Strait OBS's and returned to OBS site 10 in the Drake Passage to recover and re-deploy that instrument.

At 0600 on 12 December, the Gould arrived at GPS site JUAN, Livingston Island, and retrieved GPS operators. Writer Hooper and Artist De Leiris went ashore with the first Zodiac and visited Johnson's Dock (a protected bay) to observe a glacier terminus populated by southern elephant seals and penguins. By 1000 hours the ship was loaded and left for Frei Base to pick up the seismology team at 1700 hours.

From Frei Base we returned to Prat Base, arriving about 2000 hours, 12 December, to set a second GPS on an IGM (Instituto Geographico Militar) survey site that is linked to our GPS net. By 0130 hrs, 13 December, the ship departed Prat to do bathymetric surveys over previously deployed Bransfield OBS sites 1-5. By 0830 hours the ship was again at Prat Base and the Seismology and GPS teams went ashore to meet the base commander. The writer-artist team and other scientists followed to visit the base museum and observe Weddell and southern elephant seals and other organisms. By 1730 hours, all work was completed successfully, all personnel returned to the ship, and by 1800 hours we were on our way to Elephant Island via OBS site #12.

We arrived at Elephant Island at ~1230 hours, 14 December, under typically overcast skies and 10 knot winds from the north. The Seismology team and John Evans landed at about 1400 hours followed by the GPS at 1700 hours. The ship went north to recover Dr. Ray Peterson's pressure gauge which, unfortunately, did not appear at the surface after several hours. It had been down for about three years. The turned for the Drake Passage to recover, re-set, and re-deploy two more OBS's. At about 1400 hrs, 16 December, the ship was again offshore Elephant Island. However, wind gusts up to 50 knots and a heavy swell prevented landing a Zodiac until the next morning. Finally at 1500 hours on 17 December, all personnel were aboard. The seismograph system had taken a hit from a large rock, but was revised to run off solar panels until at least April or May and the GPS logged 2.3 days data. The Zodiacs had difficulty getting off Elephant Island against heavy ground swell, but all finally made it to the ship after an exhilarating ride and an outstanding performance by the Zodiac operators.